Content Warning: References to alleged harassment and abuse made below
Bungie, who formerly had games published by Activision Blizzard, has highlighted that a culture of “harassment, abuse and inequality” is not tolerated at its own company.
The statement was released as a Twitter thread following the news that Activision Blizzard is being sued over sexual harassment, where the company said: “We have a responsibility to acknowledge, reflect, and do what we can to push back on a persistent culture of harassment, abuse, and inequality that exists in our industry.”
“We don’t pretend that Bungie is perfect and that no one has experienced harassment while working here, but we will not tolerate it and will confront it head on. And we will continue to do the work every day to be better” the post adds.
Bungie concludes the post by saying that it aims to improve the experience for all its workers and the games industry as a whole.
The post follows the recent news that Activision Blizzard is facing a lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, from employees who accuse the company of having them face “constant sexual harassment, including groping, comments, and advances”.
After two years of investigation, Activision Blizzard is accused of having a “frat boy workplace culture” that led to women being subjected to the above and more.
Human resources staff have also been accused of being ineffective with complaints, with staff saying they have been “treated in a perfunctory and dismissive manner and not kept confidential”, and they are allegedly “subjected to retaliation including but not limited to being deprived of work on projects”.
This story was reported on the same day that an investigation found that harassment is rife at Ubisoft Singapore. Issues range from sexual harassment, to racial pay disparities and workplace bullying, with one developer saying that the “head was rotten, so the body was incapable of functioning properly.”
